Evaluation of two methods employed for cervical ripening.

The study evaluates breast stimulation and oxytocin infusion as methods for cervical ripening in patients where an obstetric indication for induction of labour exists. Forty patients with a Bishop score of 5 or 6 were randomly selected for either breast stimulation or oxytocin infusion. In a similar group of 20 cases, no method was employed. The Bishop score improved in 41.2% of cases where breast stimulation was used as compared to 75% where an oxytocin infusion was given. Three foetal deaths in the breast stimulation group brought the study to a stop after 17 cases. Cervical ripening with an oxytocin infusion drip appears to be a better method since infusion dosage can be precisely controlled making the technique more predictable and reliable. Though breast stimulation is effective in ripening the cervix, it may be used only in cases of intrauterine foetal death as it may otherwise adversely affect foetal outcome.

Outcome of teenage pregnancy.

Two hundred consecutive cases up to 19 years of age admitted for confinement at The Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital, Bombay, were studied. Out of these 200 girls, 6 were unmarried, 51 were anaemic, 20 had toxaemia of pregnancy. Six girls (43%) in the age group 15-17 years delivered prematurely as compared to only 26 girls (14%) in the age group of 17-19 years. This difference is statistically significant. Also, only, 4 girls (29%) in the age group of 15-17 years had full term normal delivery as compared to 113 girls (61%) in the age group of 17-19 years signifying that the outcome of pregnancy becomes worst in girls below the age of 17 years. Ten babies (71%) of mothers in the age group of 15-17 years were LBW as compared to 75 babies (44%) of mothers in the age group of 17-19 years signifying that the incidence of LBW babies is inversely proportional to maternal age. Teenage pregnant girls needed more attention for prevention and treatment of preeclampsia eclampsia, anaemia, prematurity and LBW.